"True, dear, and even if she never did,"—how she longed to give him hope, as she had given him every toy he asked for in his baby days! But wisdom came to her now, and love gave her strength,—"even if she never did, the victory would still be a victory."
"And you'd care, anyway. Oh, mothers are good things! Do you mind my telling you-all this?"
He was sitting before her now, with his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. She leaned forward and kissed him.
"You've given me the greatest happiness Ah've known for years, dear."
He pulled at the stockings in her lap.
"I don't think I've had much show lately, do you?"
"You mean——?"
"Oh, well, I reckon I don't mean anything. It's all in the game. There's father," as a cry of "O-oh, Sophy!" was heard below. "Sophy's up here in the north room, dad," he called, eliciting from his mother the expected—
"You impertinent boy!"
The Doctor came in, bringing with him an air of excitement that made Bob cry,—